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Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to connect local farmers, ranchers with food banks moves to House floor
New food bank bill would connect ranchers and organizations serving meals. (USDA photo by Bob Nichols via Flickr) Freshman Rep. Shelly Fyant, D-Arlee, was nervous waiting for the House Agriculture Committee to decide the fate of one of her first bills, about food security. House Bill 649 would create a $3 million grant program connecting local food producers with food banks. Committee discussion zeroed in on the bill's financial impact and any overhead costs, as well as how many food pantries and food hubs would qualify. The grants would help food banks purchase food from local farmers and ranchers and open up a new market for them. Following about 45 minutes of discussion and a strong defense of her bill, Fyant left and waited outside in the hallway. One of the members of the committee, Rep. Jennifer Lynch, D-Butte, even walked over at one point to tell Fyant they were about to go into final discussions on her bill. But Fyant didn't go in and watch, and later found out it passed on to the House floor with an 11-6 vote when an aide gave her a thumbs up. In an interview with the Daily Montanan, Fyant said she fought to work on these problems for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes during her eight years on Tribal Council, and now in the Legislature, Fyant has an opportunity to talk about the issue to an even broader audience. 'Food sovereignty has been my passion since 2016,' Fyant said. 'I started a food sovereignty committee because I could and pushed my agenda, because it was a healthy one, right? A long term vision. If we can't feed ourselves, we're not truly sovereign.' One of the things Fyant did was study work by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Essentially the tribe bought a farm and started producing food over a period of about three years, Fyant said. Fyant wanted to bring the idea back to the Flathead Valley. Then, COVID-19 got in the way. 'I developed this team, a specialist in water, a hydrologist, one of the local tribal producers, a guy from legal who was like-minded,' Fyant said. 'I put together this team, sent them down there, (and) then the pandemic hit.' The tribe has since developed some space to have a commercial kitchen, Fyant said, and there are other ongoing and upcoming projects related to the issue of food insecurity in the Flathead. She's also trying to reach youth. 'When I do food security talks with young people, I tell them, 'There were no obese hunters, there were no diabetic warriors,'' Fyant said. 'You know, there's a lot of physical activity related to getting food, and so not just getting your food, but processing it. You know, after the buffalo hunt, you gotta process. I remember the first time I tanned a hide. I thought, 'That's some upper body workout.'' The Farm to Food Bank proposal is similar to some work already being done in Montana, including the University of Montana's PEAS Farm. Student interns work the farm over the summer, which is run in coordination with Garden City Harvest. They do two things — provide Community Supported Agriculture boxes for sale and produce about 15,000 to 20,000 pounds for the Missoula Food Bank and other places, including a farmers market for low-income seniors. The PEAS Farm program is over 25 years old and Garden City Harvest was started by Missoula County Commissioner Josh Slotnick. Nearly one in nine Montanans face hunger and about 58,000 Montanans live in areas with limited access to grocery stores or supermarkets, according to the Montana Food Bank Network. In 2023, the organization served 13,896,595 meals to food pantries and program partners. Kiera Condon, an advocacy specialist with Montana Food Bank Network, spoke in favor of the bill. 'The investment provided through this legislation will build both food security and economic security by connecting Montana's food banks and pantries to growers and ranchers in their area,' Condon said. 'Strengthening local food systems and ensuring access to fresh, nutritious foods creates healthier families and stable communities.' The Montana Farmers Union also supported the bill. 'It's a priority for our membership to promote regional, resilient Food Systems and diverse markets in order to achieve these goals The Farm to Food Bank program builds both resilient food systems and diversifies the market opportunity for farmers and ranchers,' Rachel Prevost, with the Farmers Union, told the committee. 'It's a win-win across the board for our food systems and our producers.' The bill moved forward with one amendment, which lowered the amount of funding that can be used for administrative costs from 20% to 5%.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
APHIS strengthens biosecurity requirements for bird flu related indemnity payments
Broiler hens in a chicken house. (Photo by Bob Nichols/USDA) Poultry producers who have previously had flocks infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza would have to pass a biosecurity audit to be eligible for future indemnity payments under a new rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service amended the conditions to ensure commercial poultry producers are making necessary biosecurity changes to minimize reinfection. According to the rule, the current outbreak, starting in 2022, has cost $1.25 billion in indemnity and compensation payments to producers. A total of $227 million of those payments have gone to facilities that have had multiple outbreaks. APHIS said 67 commercial poultry premises have been infected with HPAI two or more times in the current outbreak. 'This interim rule will serve to reduce the risk that a producer becomes inclined to disregard biosecurity because they believe that APHIS will continue to cover the costs associated with damages related to an HPAI outbreak through indemnity payments regardless of their biosecurity status,' the text for the rule reads. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A statement from the United Egg Producers said the group was supportive of the interim rule and for the relief indemnity payments have provided to egg farmers throughout the HPAI outbreak. 'Biosecurity on U.S. egg farms is at its highest levels – and hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested to make egg farm biosecurity the best in the world,' the emailed statement read. 'Unfortunately, these efforts have not been foolproof in fighting such aggressive strains of the virus.' When a flock is infected with HPAI, which is deadly in poultry, the entire flock is culled. According to the United Egg Producers' statement, more than 112 million egg-laying hens have been lost since 2022 to the HPAI outbreak. 'Indemnity is an emergency response measure from the government, much like other forms of federal disaster relief, and egg farmers are grateful for this support,' the statement said. 'While it does not fully cover the financial losses of HPAI, it makes the difference between survival and going out of business for many farms.' In 2014, the U.S. had an outbreak of HPAI that caused what APHIS called 'the most expensive animal health incident recorded in U.S. history.' During the 2014-2015 outbreak, APHIS said indemnity payments totaled $200 million, with the service paying full indemnity to bird owners and producers, regardless of a biosecurity plan. Following the costly outbreak, APHIS amended the rule and required producers provide written biosecurity plans, to be audited at least once every two years, to be eligible for indemnity payments. APHIS said it believed this strategy would be 'sufficient to reduce spread of the virus in the event of another HPAI outbreak.' The costly and persistent outbreak starting in 2022 indicated the previous rule was 'insufficient' and that 'the current paper-based audit process does not always illustrate how well the premises are practicing biosecurity,' the interim rule said. To remain eligible for indemnity, the new rule requires visual, either virtually or in person, biosecurity audits of facilities that have previously been infected with HPAI and of facilities that are in the 'buffer zone' of an infection and are receiving birds to a facility. The rule additionally adds definitions for control, buffer and infected zones. A control zone comprises both the infected and buffer zones, with a buffer zone defined as the area 'that immediately surrounds an infected zone.' According to the rule, these distances are determined by a state animal health official under current practices, but the additional definitions in the new rule give APHIS the 'latitude' to determine and set the bounds in 'extraordinary circumstances.' Previously infected facilities within the infected zone will have to undergo an in-person biosecurity audit and subsequent virtual audits every six months until the state where it is located 'declares freedom' from the virus. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has reported one infection of HPAI in the state this year, following a string of detections in commercial and backyard flocks beginning in December 2024. According to data from APHIS, nearly 30 million birds in Iowa have been affected by the current outbreak of the flu. The APHIS interim rule went into effect Dec. 31, 2024 and the department is accepting comments on the rule through March 3, 2025. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
